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Todd Archer
DETROIT — For the past month, the Dallas Cowboys have carried with them the burden of losing a teammate and the joy of getting into playoff contention.
On Thursday night, the Cowboys’ 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field was their first since the death of Marshawn Kneeland and their first in more than a month, dropping them to 6-6-1 on the season and giving them difficult odds in making the postseason.
“I think guys are pissed off right now,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “I don’t think it’s any deflated moment like, oh, hands are up, we’re done. No. No. Absolutely not. I think you’re going to get a team that’s pissed, especially as we talk about a team that’s kind of changed since the bye week. This is the first time this group, to an extent, suffered this. So hopefully it pisses people off the right way, we use it as fuel, and I know, starting with myself, I’ll make sure we have a great week of prep for the next one.”
The Cowboys’ playoff chances dropped to 8% with the defeat, according to ESPN Analytics. The Cowboys would lose head-to-head tiebreakers against the Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers and Lions.
Their remaining four opponents include three — Minnesota Vikings (Dec. 14), Washington Commanders (Dec. 25) and New York Giants (Jan. 3 or 4) — with a losing record. They play the Los Angeles Chargers (8-4) on Dec. 21.
Thursday’s game was the fourth in an 18-day span for the Cowboys, following wins over the Las Vegas Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in the three games since acquiring defensive tackle Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline.
“Really proud of the group,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Four games, [18] days, battled their asses off, proud of them. We knew tonight it was going to come down to a couple of things — the ability to take care of the football and take it away, and we didn’t do a good job of that. Then we needed to win the trenches, and we didn’t really do that.”
The Cowboys lost the turnover battle 3-0, with two interceptions and a lost fumble that the Lions turned into 14 points. They averaged just 3.8 yards per rush, with Prescott having the longest run of the night (12 yards), and allowed four rushing touchdowns, including three by Jahmyr Gibbs.
“It was an important game for both teams,” Schottenheimer said, “and they got the best of us.”
Prescott was pressured 20 times, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and was sacked five times. The Cowboys also had a couple of costly, if questionable, offensive pass interference penalties.
Despite all of that, twice in the fourth quarter the Cowboys closed the gap to a one-score game after losing Pro Bowl wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to a concussion in the third quarter. Both times, the Cowboys’ defense allowed touchdowns on the ensuing drives,
“The complementary football wasn’t what it was the past several weeks,” Schottenheimer said.
Perhaps their best chance to make the playoffs is winning the NFC East if the Eagles continue to slide.
“I don’t know if I can say we control our own destiny,” Prescott said. “It was not a stretch saying that before. Pretty sure if we had won out, we were going to have a pretty dam good record, only having five losses and a tie.
“Being 6-6-1 right now with [four] left now, yeah, I’m pretty sure, especially with just the way some of the divisions are shaped, the North, the West, we’re going to need some things to happen for us. I don’t think it’s in our control at this point. But what we can control is the way that we approach the game. I think that’s just about pride and love you have for this game, teammates, the organization, having an opportunity to play this game. That will be my message to the players, and I think if we do that, we’ll still give ourselves a chance.”
